1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector unit, particularly but not exclusively for use in telecommunications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a telecommunications context, it is often necessary to connect large numbers of "jumper pairs" to corresponding "exchange pairs". Exchange pairs emanate from the telephone exchange, and jumper pairs link the exchange pairs (eventually) to a consumer unit. In general, exchange pairs are connected to a connector module at the time of installing the telephone network, whereas jumper pairs may be connected, disconnected and reconnected several times as the consumer needs change.
There therefore exists a need for reliable interconnection of exchange and jumper pairs. It should be possible to disconnect and reconnect the exchange pairs, for example in the case of a fault, but it is not necessary that this should be feasible on a repeated basis.
EP-A-0315345 discloses an electrical connector apparently suitable for use in this context. The connector uses insulation displacement contacts (IDC), which are contacts having a blade portion at the tip suitable for piercing the plastics insulation of a wire and making electrical contact with the metallic conductor therewithin. Such IDC connectors are well known in this field.
The designs illustrated in EP-A-0315345 show an IDC connector having two blade portions, one for interconnection with the jumper wire and one for interconnection with the exchange wire. A movable carrier is disclosed which holds the jumper wire and can be forced downwards to bring the enclosed jumper wire into conjunction with the IDC connector. Doing so forces the IDC connector to travel downward into connection with an exchange wire pre-positioned in an internal channel within the connector unit.
No consideration is apparently given in this prior art design to disconnection of the exchange wire, and it seems that this would be an extremely troublesome operation. In addition, the connector body disclosed has many moving parts, most of which have an intricate shape that will be difficult to manufacture to the required tolerance.